Jeremiah Valeska
|appearances = 5 episodes (see below) |actor = Cameron Monaghan }} Jeremiah Valeska is a mentally deranged and dangerous terrorist, criminal and murderer. He is also the more intelligent and more dangerous identical twin brother of the anarchistic cult leader Jerome Valeska. As a child, Jeremiah supposedly suffered years of abuse at the hands of his psychopathic brother, who even burnt Jeremiah's bed while Jeremiah himself was in it. Jeremiah would in turn manufacture several lies about his brother that would turn Jerome's entire family against him; it remains unclear how much truth there was in either story. In a desperate attempt to defend Jeremiah from his monstrous brother, his uncle took him away from Haly's Circus, in which his mother Lila worked, and proceeded to take him to St. Ignatius. Following this Jeremiah changed his name and started calling himself Xander Wilde. After finishing school, Jeremiah became a brilliant engineer, designing highly advanced generators for Wayne Enterprises. He also built a labarynth hideout to protect himself from his brother, which took almost six years of construction. In addition to the hideout which he filled with security cameras, rooms of work and more, he met a young woman named Ecco who started to work for him as a proxy and assistant. Jeremiah would later reunite with his brother, who after a rampage to find his twin, found him in his hideout. Right after witnessing his brother's death, Jeremiah received a gift sent by Jerome, which is revealed to be a "special" gas created just for him. Upon inhaling it, his face became pale white and a wide red grin formed from ear to ear, finally giving Jeremiah the drive to explore that dark side of him that his brother Jerome had seen. Becoming obsessed with both Bruce Wayne (whom he viewed as a kindred spirit) and re-building Gotham in his own image after destroying it, he eventually formed an alliance with Ra's al Ghul. After mortally injuring Selina Kyle in an attempt to destroy Bruce's attachments and drive him insane, Jeremiah killed the mayor and demolished all of Gotham's bridges, cutting the city off from the rest of the world and paving the way for Bruce to become the "Dark Knight" Ra's had foreseen. With Gotham City reduced to a lawless "no-man's land", Jeremiah managed to escape into the night, remaining on the loose in the abandoned city. Jeremiah takes over his brother's role as the main antagonist during the final arc of Season Four. Biography Early Life Jeremiah was born to Lila Valeska and Paul Cicero and is the twin brother of Jerome Valeska According to Jeremiah, Jerome would abuse and scare Jeremiah when he was little. Jeremiah would later recount that he realized Jerome was dangerous and knew he needed to get away from him so he snuck away one night from Haly's Circus and had his uncle Zachary place him at St. Ignatius. Shortly afterwards, Jeremiah took on the alias of "Xander Wilde". He himself would later explain that he did this since he wanted to make it more difficult for Jerome to track him down. Jerome on the other hand stated that he got adopted by rich people, explaining at least his changed surname. He would then study at school and become an engineer. Four years after graduating, he started construction on his hideout, an underground maze bunker in a forest on the outskirts of Gotham City. The building took 6 years to complete. At an unknown point in time, he met a woman named Ecco and hired her as his proxy and assistant. Reunited With Jerome Ten years after Jeremiah's graduation, Jerome breaks out of Arkham Asylum and kills their uncle, Zachary at the diner he owns for the location of his brother. Jeremiah is then confronted by the stunned Captain Jim Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock. They ask Jeremiah about him and Jerome, he tells them that once Jerome tried to kill him, so he ran away and changed his name to Xander Wilde. They then find out that he‘s holding Jerome captive, so they immediately order Jeremiah to let him go but he refuses to do so. After finding out that the Legion of Horribles is inside the building, and that they hypnotized Ecco, Jeremiah takes Jim and Harvey into the halls of his house, which were built as a maze that he’s the only one he can get out of. The three find Ecco there but, since she was hypnotized by Tetch, she gets into a fight with them, Ecco easily wins and takes Jeremiah to Jerome, but she’s eventually knocked out by Jim. Jeremiah then tries to escape but Jerome finds him. They have a verbal fight, in which Jerome tells he’s disappointed by what Jeremiah told about him, since, in his point of view, all of the things he said were lies. Jeremiah did agree that certain things that he told were in fact exaggerations of the truth. Jerome also tells Jeremiah that he’s going to drive him crazy and then kill him. Jim and Harvey eventually get to them, so Jerome runs away leaving Jeremiah behind. Jeremiah is later taken to the GCPD so that he can be put into protective custody. Jerome took the Mayor, his wife, and a police officer hostage. He demanded that Jim bring him, Jeremiah and Bruce Wayne. Jeremiah is hesitant to go at first but later agrees. Jerome straps Jeremiah and Bruce into a chair. Jerome tells the crowd the story of him and Jeremiah and then cuts Jeremiah free. Determined to prove Jeremiah is just like him, Jerome hands Jeremiah the knife and tells him to take his best shot. Jeremiah tries to stab Jerome, who knocks him out with a single punch. Later, Jeremiah approaches Jerome’s body after he fell to his death. As Jeremiah walks away, Bruce asks him to let Wayne Enterprises fund his work. Jeremiah thanks Bruce and shakes his hand. Driven Insane After Jerome's death, Jeremiah discovered a gift in his secret office and opened it. The gift is revealed to be a jack-in-the-box in the form of a disfigured clown head that sprays Jeremiah with a special mixture of the laughing venom created by Jerome. The gas then eventually drives Jeremiah completely insane as Jerome's voice speaks to him in a recording coming out of the gift box, encouraging Jeremiah to be Jerome's successor and his ultimate revenge. Even though Jeremiah tried to fight the venom, it ultimately turned him into a complete maniac with white skin and red lips. However, Jeremiah claimed that other than the cosmetic changes, the gas did nothing to his sanity: this indicates that Jerome was telling the truth about Jeremiah's mental state, and that he indeed shares his brother’s psychosis. Revealing his dark side Jeremiah created a recording tape of himself disguised as his deceased brother Jerome and stated that he would have a wake at the GCPD. He then set Ecco to invite Jerome fanatics that were celebrating at his grave. When Bruce Wayne visited Jeremiah Valeska, he showed Bruce Wayne the prototype of the device he was working on. He also pulled out Jerome's diary which Arkham gave to him after his death. There he revealed that the book was disturbing and holding him back but Bruce morally supported him by saying to quit the book. Shortly after, Bruce received a phone call about Jerome's wake and Jeremiah became paranoid. Jeremiah confessed that he was sprayed the Insanity Gas as Jerome's last sick game and Bruce convinced Jeremiah to visit Jerome's grave to truly convince the cowering Jeremiah that he was truly dead. After visiting the grave and finding it empty, Jeremiah runs away inside the cemetery building and when Bruce catches up to him, it appears as Jeremiah is losing his mind, now that he views that Bruce is his dead brother. After Jeremiah chases Bruce towards Jerome's Graveyard, Jerome's body is now placed next to the tombstone. Still not buying the fact that his brother is dead, he pulled out a knife from Jerome's corpse and fought Bruce Wayne. Jim Gordon investigates he bunker and a recording starts playing. when Ecco arrived and placed a gun at his head, the recording starts and it looked like Jerome had an extra tape regarding Jim Gordon. After an extensive fight with Ecco, it is revealed to Gordon that Jeremiah was faking the Jerome act as he peels off the fake damaged skin and rubs the makeup off with a cloth. Meanwhile, Jeremiah reveals his true colors to Bruce by confessing that the whole event was just an act and Jeremiah was insane the whole time. After a thug proclaims proudly "Jerome's victorious" Jeremiah murders him in cold blood due to him believing that he was the victorious one and not his brother since he was dead. Kicking Jerome's corpse into the grave, he then revealed his plans for Gotham as he pulls out the diary and states he is going to outdo his brother’s goals in a sane matter. Bruce disregards his plan, saying it's complete madness and to carry out Jerome's plans in a "sane" manner. Jerome replies with an entry from Jerome's diary: "Jerome wanted to slather you in honey and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles. Now that's mad. Me, if I wanted to kill you I'd just do it. I'll shoot you in the head. Simply and sanely". He then reveals to Bruce and Gordon that the generators he invested his money in can double as highly powerful bombs. Back at Jermiah's residence the bunker's generator starts to overload, but luckily Jim finds a secret buzzer underneath the table and unlocks the door and escapes the bunker before it explodes. Jeremiah and Bruce both presume Jim has died, and Bruce angrily vows that he will stop Jeremiah. Jeremiah knocks him out and drops him into the grave with Jerome's corpse. Jeremiah and Ecco then head to Wayne Enterprise and kill two guards to obtain their keycards. they open the locked door with the key cards and it is revealed that there is a room full of the powerful generators Jeremiah created and Bruce invested in. He then orders Ecco to move them as he plans to destroy Gotham and "Rebuild it" Plan To Rebuild Gotham Confronting Bullock at GCPD headquarters, Jeremiah announces that he is responsible for Jim Gordon's death and that his generator bombs are hidden all around Gotham City. When Bullock and the GCPD point their guns at him, he reveals a dead-man's switch and warns that if they kill him, the explosives will trigger. Bullock claims Jeremiah is more sick than Jerome was; Jeremiah replies that Jerome just wanted to destroy things, whereas he plans to build a new Gotham in his own image out of the ashes. Jeremiah gives Bullock six hours to evacuate the city and destroys the Gotham Clock Tower to show he is telling the truth. Later, when Bruce meets with Bullock, Jeremiah calls him and tells him the address Alfred, who Jeremiah had kidnapped, is at and warns Bruce not to tell the police as Jeremiah knows where Bruce is. Allying with Scarecrow, Jeremiah later watches Bruce via CCTV as he is sprayed with Scarecrow's fear toxin and forced to witness Alfred being tortured in an attempt to drive him mad. Jeremiah remarks that he "envys" Bruce, and that he wants him to be able to embrace his true, darker nature after being forced to lose everything and everyone he loves. As Jeremiah enters his safehouse, he finds The Penguin, Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan, and Butch Gilzean waiting for him with one of Jeremiah's henchmen, Jongleur, hostage; they have also located and taken the cord relay that allows him to detonate all his bombs at once. They demand an additional hour to evacuate the city and $50 million. Jeremiah, knowing they will double-cross him anyway, pretends to agree to their demands and calls the mayor, but then claims he was put on hold, pulls out a bazooka and blows up Jongleur and the cord relay. Furious at Penguin's assertion that he is "out of his mind", Jeremiah remarks that he has always had a backup plan and can simply detonate the bombs in sequence instead. He then tells them he has changed his mind about the deadline due to their interference, and will detonate the bombs as soon as he's a safe distance away. Jeremiah orders his followers to kill them and escapes. Arriving at another bunker where the Cult of Jerome are gathered, Jeremiah prepares to detonate the bombs, but it's suddenly revealed that Gordon is still alive, much to his fury. Jeremiah triggers the detonator for the first generator, but it doesn't explode as Bullock found and disabled it just in time. The Cult of Jerome gets angry at Jeremiah, calling him a liar and a fake; he reacts by sealing them inside the bunker and incinerating them, saying he anticipated their betrayal. Later, hiding out at an abandoned theater after his generators have been retrieved by the GCPD, Jeremiah plans to start over when he is met by Ra's al Ghul who explains its not about Gotham; it's about Bruce Wayne. Later at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Selina are talking about Jeremiah's obsession with Bruce. Bruce explains that Jeremiah was working on the premise that "one bad day" can drive someone insane. He wonders if the trauma of his own parents' deaths "made him a little insane", and if Jeremiah had sensed that and was trying to bring it to the surface. As Selina replies that Bruce proved him wrong, Jeremiah suddenly enters the room and holds a pistol to her abdomen, remarking that the day's not over yet. He shoots Selina in the stomach, knocking her backwards, then smiles and throws his gun away. As Bruce desperately tries to keep Selina alive, Alfred rushes in, knocks Jeremiah down and begins pummeling him repeatedly in the face. Aligned with Ra's al Ghul After being arrested, Jeremiah is held at the GCPD. Talking with Gordon, Jeremiah mockingly says he wishes to press assault charges against Alfred. He offers to give up the location of "other" bombs he claims to have planted around the city, in exchange for being allowed to speak alone with Bruce. A few moments later one of his generator bombs (planted by Ra's Al Ghul) goes off and destroys City Hall, killing the mayor and seemingly confirming that Jeremiah is not bluffing. Gordon attempts to beat the locations of the other bombs out of Jeremiah, who barely reacts. A major has Bruce Wayne meet with the restrained Jeremiah, attempting to get the location of the other bombs. Jeremiah reiterates that he believes Bruce is his kindred spirit, and taunts him about Selina's injuries. When pressed about the location of the "other bombs" , Jeremiah reveals that the only other bomb was the one he used on City Hall. Jeremiah finally reveals to Bruce he is working with Ra's al Ghul. The lights go out, and Bruce and Jeremiah both vanish; they have both been evacuated from the GCPD by the League of Shadows, which also steals all of Jeremiah's confiscated bombs and re-distributes them across Gotham's bridge system, are then taken to Ra's. Ra's and Jeremiah tell Bruce they'll create a legacy by destroying Gotham, allowing Bruce to be "reborn" as the Dark Knight of Ra's visions; Jeremiah admits he is skeptical of prophecies and visions, but the idea of he and Bruce rising from the fall of Gotham together appeals to him. Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan, Penguin, and Alfred arrive and attack the League of Shadows; Tabitha battles Jeremiah, saying "This is for Selina." However, Jeremiah manages to stab her in the leg with her own knife and nearly kill her before Penguin shoots him in the shoulder. Barbara and Bruce kill Ra's who tells Bruce to become Gotham's dark knight. Suddenly, the bombs that Ra's and Jeremiah had planted go off and destroy the bridges connecting Gotham to the mainland. Jeremiah smiles savagely and escapes into the night of the abandoned city. Shortly afterwards, Bruce is seen interrogating a small-time criminal about Jeremiah's whereabouts; he tells him to let Jeremiah know he is coming for him. Personality Though he appeared to be more stable then his brother, calling him after his transformation a “Short-sighted psychopath, he wanted to destroy things”, Jerome claimed that Jeremiah was as crazy as he was. He was shown to be deceptive, as he claimed that Jerome had always been trying to kill him, though he later admitted to Jerome that it didn't happen exactly as he had described it. He tried to deceive Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock that Jerome could not find him, even though he had already captured Jerome. He was overconfident, bordering on arrogance, on being able to keep his brother trapped, something that led to Jeremiah escaping and confronting. He was also willing to let people die if it meant he could avoid Jerome, showing that he was obsessed with his own self-preservation. After being exposed to Jerome's altered laughing toxin, Jeremiah initially appeared to have been driven completely insane, laughing uncontrollably as he was transformed by the toxin. However, according to Jeremiah, his brother’s gas did little more than alter him cosmetically. Whether he was fully insane before the gas or if he is simply attempting to downplay his brother's effect on him is still unknown; his prior behavior did hint at ''some repressed mental instability, which Jerome's gas may have helped bring to the surface. Gordon theorized that, by destroying Gotham in such a way that it would form a "maze", Jeremiah was turning the city into the same environment he had always felt safe in, indicating that Jeremiah's original instability may have come from his years of hiding from Jerome, alone and underground. Jeremiah has still shown himself to be highly skilled at decieving people before and after his transformation, as he was able to act perfectly as Jerome on video tapes of his "will" and deceive Bruce Wayne into thinking he was having a mental breakdown, only dropping the act to illustrate his new sinister personality. Jeremiah has also shown to be quite calm for the most part, carrying out ruthless actions without the hysterical laughter and manic behavior displayed by Jerome; his mental illness has not affected his brilliant intellect, and he does seem somewhat more in control of his actions. However, he is easily as ruthless and cruel as Jerome if not more so, indicated by his casual destruction of Gotham's clock tower just to prove a point, and his shooting Selina Kyle and torturing of Alfred Pennyworth just to "release" Bruce Wayne from everything he loves. While Jeremiah was always deceptive, this degree of ruthlessness was never shown before his encounter with the gas. Unlike his highly impulsive brother, Jeremiah continued to plan carefully and methodically after his transformation. Whereas Jerome always felt the need to have an audience to whom he could display his schemes and sociopathic tendencies, Jeremiah did not care in the slightest about having an audience; he was always focused on his endgame and usually had a backup plan, making it much harder to anticipate and defeat him. Also unlike Jerome, Jeremiah had more of a long-term vision, describing himself as a "builder" and "artist" and wanting to create something out of his destruction of Gotham, whereas Jerome only wanted destruction for destruction's sake. However, despite appearing calmer than Jerome, he does sometimes display the same explosive temper when his plans are interfered with, screaming at his followers to prevent them attacking him, which led to him burning them all to death. He also shows a partial denial about his insanity, as he claims he is not insane several times and becomes enraged when anyone (other than Bruce Wayne) says otherwise. Like Jerome, he is something of a masochist after his transformation, being mostly immune to pain and merely grinning when taking a beating from Alfred and later Jim Gordon. Jeremiah has also shown two significant obsessions. The first is surpassing his brother in every way, including carrying out his various schemes to destroy Gotham but more efficiently and on a greater scale. Jerome was the one thing Jeremiah always feared the most, and after his exposure to Jerome's gas (which was derived from a variation of Scarecrow's fear toxin) his need to surpass his brother could be his way of overcoming that fear. The second obsession is Bruce Wayne, who Jeremiah views as a kindred spirit and "the brother Jerome never could be" and is the only one to whom he (inadvertently) admits his insanity. Believing that Bruce's parents' deaths had caused similar mental trauma, Jeremiah makes many attempts to bring that darker nature to the surface, just as Jerome had to him. However, unlike Jerome (who was similarly obsessed with Bruce Wayne) Jeremiah makes it clear he has no intention of killing Bruce. After allying with Ra's Al Ghul and learning of his plans to transform Bruce into a "Dark Knight", Jeremiah believes he and Bruce are destined to rise from the ashes of Gotham together Physical Appearance Originally, Jeremiah was identical to his brother, the only exception being his slightly darker hair. He wore glasses and dressed usually in an orange suit and blue collared shirt, and occasionally, a blue coat. After his exposure to the insanity gas, Jeremiah's skin turned extremely pale. In addition, his lips became bright red and his eyes piercing green, though he initially hid these changes with makeup and contact lenses. He later dyed his hair a very dark green and wore a purple and black suit as well as a plaid trentch coat. Occassionally, he can be seen wearing a black hat. Abilities *'High-level intellect:' Jeremiah is shown to be highly intelligent. Since he was a child, he used to draw mazes, and when he grew up, after having the best grades at school, he built one in his house, which he built underneath the woods. Furthermore, he is extremely manipulative as he was able to keep anyone from discovering his insanity for years, even after it was brought to the forefront by Jerome's gas, and he was able to convince everyone that he was Jerome in the tapes he sent to Jerome's followers and the GCPD. Jeremiah also claims to be 'vastly more intelligent' than Jerome was. He is a brilliant engineer, designing advanced generators capable of powering Gotham that could double as powerful explosive devices. *'High pain tolerance/Indomitable will:' Jeremiah has shown to have a high tolerance for pain, as he showed no signs of pain when Alfred was punching him in the face repeatedly. He later showed only slight signs of pain when shot by Oswald Cobblepot with a machine gun. *'Master tactician:' Using his vast intelligence, Jeremiah also filled his secret hideout with security cameras in order to be ready for his twisted brother's arrival, whilst also utilizing the right tactics in order to trap and escape Jerome. *'Evasion:' Jeremiah has shown to be skilled in evading people, as he was able to evade Jerome for years. *'Master engineer:' After graduating school, Jeremiah used his construction skills of labyrinths in order to build a secretive hideout for himself in order to defend himself from Jerome, which took him six years of construction. *'Impersonation/Acting:' He was able to impersonate his brother Jerome in multiple video recordings, making him a very talented actor, even capable of fooling the whole GCPD and the Cult of Jerome with his disguise. *'Make-up artist:' Jeremiah is shown to be a skilled make-up artist on many occasions. After his skin was bleached white, Jeremiah was able to use make-up to hide his transformation from the public for weeks. He was even capable of taking on the appearance of his brother Jerome by the use of prosthetic make-up for the scars. *'Voice alteration:' Jeremiah was able to change his voice to make himself sound like someone else. It was shown that he can convincingly imitate the voice of his brother Jerome, a very difficult task, since Jerome got his striking voice because he got stabbed in the throat before his first death, disfiguring his vocal cords permanently after his resurrection. *'Skilled Marksman:' Jeremiah has shown profiency with guns and other firearms. He was able to shoot and kill one of Jerome's followers without looking at the man behind him using his hidden sleeve gun. *'Skilled Knife Wielder:' Jeremiah is skilled at using a knife. This is seen one he attacked Bruce with a straight razor and when he used Tabatha’s karmbit knife against her and almost killed her with it. *'Hand to Hand Combatant:' Jerimah has shown some skill in hand to hand combat. This is seen when he managed to pin Tabitha to the ground after stabbing her with her own karambit knife, though he had also taken her by surprise at the time.. Weaknesses *'Arrogance:' Jeremiah believed that he had captured Jerome and could keep him imprisoned. When Jim and Bullock attempted to put him in protective custody, Jeremiah firmly believed he had defeated Jerome. Only for Jerome to outmaneuver him by leading his allies to Jeremiah's location, hypnotizing his bodyguard, and revealing that he memorized the labyrinths that Jeremiah designed as a child. Jeremiah also arrogantly believed that his bomb had killed Jim Gordon, even though he had no proof that he had perished. *'Jerome:' Jeremiah's greatest weakness is Jerome, his own twin brother. Since a young age Jeremiah supposedly suffered from Jerome's twisted and sadistic personality this led to Jeremiah suffering at the hands of Jerome who tormented him violently and sadistically, at one point during this period Jerome even set fire to Jeremiah's bed while he was still in it. Jerome also wished to have Jeremiah carry on his legacy by spraying him with a “special gas” that could drive him insane. According to Jeremiah, the gas merely changed his face and did not have any effect on his true deranged mentality. However, it has yet to be determined which of the brother's claims are more accurate, as it was in Jeremiah's best interests to deny credit to his brother as much as possible as well as having previously lied about some of Jerome's actions. Equipment *'Guns/Firearms:' He uses different firearms, primarily handguns, which he appears relatively proficient with. He used a small derringer pistol that retracts from his sleeve to kill a Jerome follower. * Knives: Jeremiah has used different types of knives. He used a spring-assisted knife given to him by Jerome to try to kill him and make him given to his killer instincts. He used a straight razor taken from Jerome’s corpse to attack Bruce. He used Tabitha’s karmbit knife against her and almost killed her with it. *'Bombs/explosives': ' '''Jeremiah used a wide variety of explosive devices, particularly the specialized generators he had designed and built with the help of Wayne Enterprises. He modified them to serve as bombs; just one was easily capable of leveling a skyscraper. Being a brilliant engineer, he designed highly sophisticated and efficient detonation systems for his explosives as well. Jeremiah also used a bazooka/ rocket-propelled grenade to destroy Jongleur during his confrontation with Penguin and the Sirens. Appearances Season 4 * * * * * Trivia *According to executive producer John Stephens, Jeremiah will not be the only Joker in Gotham's universe and could be replaced by others who watch the actions of Jerome, Jeremiah and a possible third or even fourth one, adopting them as inspirations . *Unlike other versions of the Joker, Jeremiah is calm and calculating. *The Joker made his first appearence in Batman #1 (April 25, 1940). The original character was created by Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane, and Bill Finger and first appeared in Batman #1. *This is the third live-action version of the Joker to appear on television and the sixth live-action version overall(excluding the various actors involved in various commercials involving the Joker such as the recent Snickers ad campaign), with the first being in the 1966 live-action TV series ''Batman played by Cesar Romero, the second in the 1989 live-action movie played by Jack Nicholson, the third in the 2002 live-action TV series Birds of Prey played by Roger Stoneburner and voiced over by Mark Hamill, the fourth in the 2008 live-action movie The Dark Knight played by Heath Ledger and the fifth being in the 2016 live-action movie Suicide Squad played by Jared Leto. *Jeremiah Valeska is heavily based on the original Joker from the Golden Age of Comic Books as well as the Joker from Frank Miller's 1986 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns storyline, where the character was potrayed as much more cold and calculating while also lacking damaged face muscles and nerves that make him look like he was smiling all times. *Like the Joker from Batman: The Animated Series from 1992, Jeremiah Valeska's hair appears in a very dark green tone, almost seeming black in certain light conditions. *Jeremiah's outfit with the purple hat and coat is an allusion to clothes the Joker wore in in the comics on multiple occasions, most famous in Batman: The Killing Joke and Batman: No Man's Land, as well as the 1989 live-action movie Batman. *When Jeremiah is going insane, he clutches his head in a way that mirrors the famous panel of The Joker going insane in Batman: The Killing Joke. *Xander's assumed surname could be a reference to the wild and unpredictable nature of the Joker. It could specifically be a reference to an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Joker’s Wilde". *Jeremiah's role in A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse somewhat resembles the Joker's in-universe chronological debut in the Arkham game universe as shown in the Batman: Arkham Origins game. Throughout the course of that game, the Joker temporarily takes over the identity of the crime boss Black Mask to manipulate Black Mask's criminal organization to achieve his own ends before eventually revealing himself. Jeremiah for his part, takes over the identity of his brother Jerome and manipulates the followers of Jerome's cult to achieve his own ends, before eventually revealing himself. *Jeremiah and Jerome share the same facial features apart from Jeremiah's hair being dark brown, with Jerome's being red, and Jeremiah wearing glasses. *It appears that Jeremiah dyes his hair green instead of it being chemically changed, similar to Heath Ledger's Joker. *It is possible that Jeremiah's stories about Jerome's being a psychopath as a child, are fictional and purely a ploy to get sympathy from those around him. Notes *Even though Jeremiah acts as Gotham's version of the Joker, he will never be called "The Joker" as Cameron Monoghan confirmed on his twitter account due to Warner Bros. wanting to use the name "Joker" for future projects. Cameron also confirmed Jeremiah can not have bright green hair.https://twitter.com/cameronmonaghan/status/995422386437570560 This has led to a small Campaign called #LetGothamUseJoker *Jeremiah stated that being sprayed with Jerome's special laughing gas caused no change in his mentality, indicating that he was insane before he was sprayed, the gas just brought his insanity to the forefront of his mentality and that the gas simply changed Jeremiah's facial appearance. It is unknown though how true this statement is, as Jeremiah may be simply in denial about how his brother's actions truly changed him. References Category:Allusions to the comics Category:Antagonists Category:Former protagonists Category:Candidates for the Joker